King Lear V.iii

Some officers take them away: good guard,Until their greater pleasures first be knownThat are to censure them.

CORDELIA

We are not the firstWho, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown.Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?

KING LEAR

No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laughAt gilded butterflies, and hear poor roguesTalk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;And take upon's the mystery of things,As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones,That ebb and flow by the moon.

EDMUND

Take them away.

KING LEAR

Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia,The gods themselves throw incense. Have I caught thee?He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven,And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes;The good-years shall devour them, flesh and fell,Ere they shall make us weep: we'll see 'em starvefirst. Come.

(Exeunt KING LEAR and CORDELIA, guarded)

EDMUND

Come hither, captain; hark.Take thou this note;(Giving a paper)go follow them to prison:One step I have advanced thee; if thou dostAs this instructs thee, thou dost make thy wayTo noble fortunes: know thou this, that menAre as the time is: to be tender-mindedDoes not become a sword: thy great employmentWill not bear question; either say thou'lt do 't,Or thrive by other means.

Captain

I'll do 't, my lord.

EDMUND

About it; and write happy when thou hast done.Mark, I say, instantly; and carry it soAs I have set it down.

Captain

I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats;If it be man's work, I'll do 't.

Sir, you have shown to-day your valiant strain,And fortune led you well: you have the captivesThat were the opposites of this day's strife:We do require them of you, so to use themAs we shall find their merits and our safetyMay equally determine.

EDMUND

Sir, I thought it fitTo send the old and miserable kingTo some retention and appointed guard;Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,To pluck the common bosom on his side,An turn our impress'd lances in our eyesWhich do command them. With him I sent the queen;My reason all the same; and they are readyTo-morrow, or at further space, to appearWhere you shall hold your session. At this timeWe sweat and bleed: the friend hath lost his friend;And the best quarrels, in the heat, are cursedBy those that feel their sharpness:The question of Cordelia and her fatherRequires a fitter place.

ALBANY

Sir, by your patience,I hold you but a subject of this war,Not as a brother.

REGAN

That's as we list to grace him.Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded,Ere you had spoke so far. He led our powers;Bore the commission of my place and person;The which immediacy may well stand up,And call itself your brother.

GONERIL

Not so hot:In his own grace he doth exalt himself,More than in your addition.

Lady, I am not well; else I should answerFrom a full-flowing stomach. General,Take thou my soldiers, prisoners, patrimony;Dispose of them, of me; the walls are thine:Witness the world, that I create thee hereMy lord and master.

Stay yet; hear reason. Edmund, I arrest theeOn capital treason; and, in thine attaint,This gilded serpent(Pointing to Goneril)For your claim, fair sister,I bar it in the interest of my wife:'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord,And I, her husband, contradict your bans.If you will marry, make your loves to me,My lady is bespoke.

GONERIL

An interlude!

ALBANY

Thou art arm'd, Gloucester: let the trumpet sound:If none appear to prove upon thy headThy heinous, manifest, and many treasons,There is my pledge;(Throwing down a glove)I'll prove it on thy heart,Ere I taste bread, thou art in nothing lessThan I have here proclaim'd thee.

There's my exchange:(Throwing down a glove)what in the world he isThat names me traitor, villain-like he lies:Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach,On him, on you, who not? I will maintainMy truth and honour firmly.

(Reads) 'If any man of quality or degree withinthe lists of the army will maintain upon Edmund,supposed Earl of Gloucester, that he is a manifoldtraitor, let him appear by the third sound of thetrumpet: he is bold in his defence.'

EDMUND

Sound!

(First trumpet)

Herald

Again!

(Second trumpet)

Herald

Again!

(Third trumpet)

(Trumpet answers within)

(Enter EDGAR, at the third sound, armed, with atrumpet before him)

ALBANY

Ask him his purposes, why he appearsUpon this call o' the trumpet.

Herald

What are you?Your name, your quality? and why you answerThis present summons?

EDGAR

Know, my name is lost;By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit:Yet am I noble as the adversaryI come to cope.

ALBANY

Which is that adversary?

EDGAR

What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester?

EDMUND

Himself: what say'st thou to him?

EDGAR

Draw thy sword,That, if my speech offend a noble heart,Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,My oath, and my profession: I protest,Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune,Thy valour and thy heart, thou art a traitor;False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;Conspirant 'gainst this high-illustrious prince;And, from the extremest upward of thy headTo the descent and dust below thy foot,A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou 'No,'This sword, this arm, and my best spirits, are bentTo prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,Thou liest.

EDMUND

In wisdom I should ask thy name;But, since thy outside looks so fair and warlike,And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes,What safe and nicely I might well delayBy rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn:Back do I toss these treasons to thy head;With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart;Which, for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise,This sword of mine shall give them instant way,Where they shall rest for ever. Trumpets, speak!

(Alarums. They fight. EDMUND falls)

ALBANY

Save him, save him!

GONERIL

This is practise, Gloucester By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answerAn unknown opposite; thou art not vanquish'd,But conzen'd and beguiled.

What you have charged me with, that have I done;And more, much more; the time will bring it out:'Tis past, and so am I. But what art thouThat hast this fortune on me? If thou'rt noble,I do forgive thee.

EDGAR

Let's exchange charity.I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund;If more, the more thou hast wrong'd me.My name is Edgar, and thy father's son.The gods are just, and of our pleasantvicesMake instruments to plague us:The dark and vicious place where thee he gotCost him his eyes.

Where have you hid yourself?How have you known the miseries of your father?

EDGAR

By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;And when 'tis told, O, that my heart would burst!The bloody proclamation to escape,That follow'd me so near,--O, our lives' sweetness!That we the pain of death would hourly dieRather than die at once!--taught me to shiftInto a madman's rags; to assume a semblanceThat very dogs disdain'd: and in this habitMet I my father with his bleeding rings,Their precious stones new lost: became his guide,Led him, begg'd for him, saved him from despair;Never,--O fault!--reveal'd myself unto him,Until some half-hour past, when I was arm'd:Not sure, though hoping, of this good success,I ask'd his blessing, and from first to lastTold him my pilgrimage: but his flaw'd heart,Alack, too weak the conflict to support!'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,Burst smilingly.

EDMUND

This speech of yours hath moved me,And shall perchance do good: but speak you on;You look as you had something more to say.

ALBANY

If there be more, more woeful, hold it in;For I am almost ready to dissolve,Hearing of this.

EDGAR

This would have seem'd a periodTo such as love not sorrow; but another,To amplify too much, would make much more,And top extremity.Whilst I was big in clamour came there in a man,Who, having seen me in my worst estate,Shunn'd my abhorr'd society; but then, findingWho 'twas that so endured, with his strong armsHe fastened on my neck, and bellow'd outAs he'ld burst heaven; threw him on my father;Told the most piteous tale of Lear and himThat ever ear received: which in recountingHis grief grew puissant and the strings of lifeBegan to crack: twice then the trumpets sounded,And there I left him tranced.

ALBANY

But who was this?

EDGAR

Kent, sir, the banish'd Kent; who in disguiseFollow'd his enemy king, and did him serviceImproper for a slave.

(Enter a Gentleman, with a bloody knife)

Gentleman

Help, help, O, help!

EDGAR

What kind of help?

ALBANY

Speak, man.

EDGAR

What means that bloody knife?

Gentleman

'Tis hot, it smokes;It came even from the heart of--O, she's dead!

ALBANY

Who dead? speak, man.

Gentleman

Your lady, sir, your lady: and her sisterBy her is poisoned; she hath confess'd it.

Produce their bodies, be they alive or dead:This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble,Touches us not with pity.(Exit Gentleman)(Enter KENT)O, is this he?The time will not allow the complimentWhich very manners urges.

He hath commission from thy wife and meTo hang Cordelia in the prison, andTo lay the blame upon her own despair,That she fordid herself.

ALBANY

The gods defend her! Bear him hence awhile.

(EDMUND is borne off)

(Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms;EDGAR, Captain, and others following)

KING LEAR

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them soThat heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!I know when one is dead, and when one lives;She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,Why, then she lives.

KENT

Is this the promised end?

EDGAR

Or image of that horror?

ALBANY

Fall, and cease!

KING LEAR

This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,It is a chance which does redeem all sorrowsThat ever I have felt.

KENT

(Kneeling) O my good master!

KING LEAR

Prithee, away.

EDGAR

'Tis noble Kent, your friend.

KING LEARA plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!I might have saved her; now she's gone for ever!Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!What is't thou say'st? Her voice was ever soft,Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee.

Captain

'Tis true, my lords, he did.

KING LEARDid I not, fellow?I have seen the day, with my good biting falchionI would have made them skip: I am old now,And these same crosses spoil me. Who are you?Mine eyes are not o' the best: I'll tell you straight.

That's but a trifle here.You lords and noble friends, know our intent.What comfort to this great decay may comeShall be applied: for us we will resign,During the life of this old majesty,To him our absolute power:(To EDGAR and KENT)you, to your rights:With boot, and such addition as your honoursHave more than merited. All friends shall tasteThe wages of their virtue, and all foesThe cup of their deservings. O, see, see!

KING LEARAnd my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,Never, never, never, never, never!Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,Look there, look there!

(Dies)

EDGAR

He faints! My lord, my lord!

KENT

Break, heart; I prithee, break!

EDGAR

Look up, my lord.

KENT

Vex not his ghost: O, let him pass! he hates him muchThat would upon the rack of this tough worldStretch him out longer.

EDGAR

He is gone, indeed.

KENT

The wonder is, he hath endured so long:He but usurp'd his life.

ALBANY

Bear them from hence. Our present businessIs general woe.(To KENT and EDGAR)Friends of my soul, you twainRule in this realm, and the gored state sustain.

KENT

I have a journey, sir, shortly to go;My master calls me, I must not say no.